Fodder-shredder.



PATENTED MAR. 14, 1905.

G. O. WELSH. FODDER SHREDDER.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY 27. 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 784,908. PATENTED MAR. 14, 1905.

' O. G. WELSH.

FODDER SHREDDER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 27, 1903.

2 SHEETSSHBBT 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT Patented March 14, 1905.

FFICE.

FODDER-SHREDDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters 1- atent No. 784,908, dated March 14, 1905.

Application filed July 2'7, 1903. Serial No. 167,128.

To all w'ltmn it nan/y concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES C. WELSH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fostoria, in the county of Seneca and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fodder-Sln'edders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a fodder-shredder and corn-husker, and has for its particular object to provide an improved shredder-head having readily attachable and detachable knife-sections, whereby broken knives may be readily removed and replaced by new ones.

A further object is to provide a shredderhead in which the cutting-blades so cover the entire length of the head that no stalks can pass it without being shredded.

A further object is to provide a ledge for the shredder-head that is adapted to direct all the stalks to the shredder-head in proper position for shredding.

The objects of my invention are accomplished by constructing a shredder-head and ledge as hereinafter described, and illustrated in the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a cross-section through the fodder-shredder constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the shredder-head. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the shredder-head mandrel. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the semihelical cutter blades; and Fig. 6 is a part plan view of the mandrel with the collar-sections mounted thereon, which are partially shown in section.

As shown in the drawings, the fodder-shredder is arranged as an adjunct to the corn-husking mechanism, and the sln'edder-head 1 is mounted in bearings 2, which are supported upon a common frame 3 for both the foddershredder and corn-husking mechanism, as shown. In front of the shredder-head there is also mounted upon top of the frame feedrollers 4 and 5, which are journaled in the bearing-frame 6, also secured to the top of the frame 3, and the top roller 5 is so journaled in the bearingframe as to be adju'stably spring-pressed upon the lower roller and positively driven by the lower roller 4 by means of a train of gears 7. The feed-rollers are grooved lengthwise to grip the cornstalks and snap the ears from the stalks when they are fed thereto by means of the belt 8, arranged as an endless table to receive the cornstalks and feed them end wise to the snapping-rollers.

The shredder-head 1 comprises a mandrel 9, the ends of which are diametrically reduced to form the journals 10 and 10, which are journaled in the bearings 2. The journal 10 is made of a length to extend out from the bearing to receive the drivingpulley 11, which is rigidly mounted thereon. Adjacent to the bearings of journal 10 the mandrel is provided with an integral shoulder 12, formed by diametrically reducing the main body portion of the mandrel between the shoulder 12 and the journal 10, aportion 13 of which adjacent to the journal 10 is threaded. Upon the body portion of the mandrel are mounted the collars 14, one shouldered against the shoulder 12 and the other against the jam-nuts 15, run on the threaded portion 13 of the mandrel, and between the collars 14 on the body of the mandrel is mounted the sectional helical collar 16, formed of lap-jointed diametric sections 17, the sides of which when jointed together as a whole around the mandrel between the collars 14 form a helical groove 18 around the mandrel between the collars 14. In the lapping end portions of the sections 17 of the helical collar 16 there are formed coincident apertures 19, which are parallel to the axis of the mandrel to receive the coupling-pins 20. The outer faces of the collars 14 are squared to abut against the shoulder 12 and the jam-nuts 15, and their inner faces are formed to join on the end sections of the helical collar 16 and complete the ends of the groove 18.

The shredder-blades 21 are formed halfturn sections of a helix adapted to enter into the groove 18, formed by the helical collar 16, and are butt-jointed around the mandrel in the groove and held in position upon the mandrel and coupled to the collar-sections 17 by means of pins 22, extending from the sides of the collar sections into the orifices 23, formed near the ends of the semihclical bladesections. \Vhen the collars and blades thus constructed are mounted upon the mandrel,

the blades are compressed and rigidly locked thereto, with the collar and the blades arranged in contim'ious helical form by means of jamnuts 15. The semihelical blade-sections of the cutter-head are in-cut at regular intervals to form semicrescent-shaped teeth 24, and by arranging the cutter-blades of the shredderhead in the form of a helix extending thefull length of the snapping rollers the exit there from is covered by a cutting edge for shredding the cornsta-lks passed between the rollers. Between the jam-nuts 15 and the bearing 10 there is mounted on the mandrel the set-collar 12, adapted to prevent lengthwise movement of the sln'edder-head.

To provide a ledge for holding the cornstalks during the process of shredding, I have arranged a shaft 25 extending from side to side of the bearing-frame 6 between the shredderhead and the sna ming-rollers. The shaft is loosely journaled in the bearings 25, secured to the bearing-frame, and the shaft is preferably triliuted lengthwise, whereby stalks that have their ends llexed downward after pass-.

ing through the feed-rollers may readily turn the shaft and be brought in the path of the revolving shredder head blades instead of passing downward between the ledge and the feed-rollers, as often occurs with stationary ledges.

26 designates an apron extending fromside frame to side frame of themechanism and arranged to deliver the shredded cornstalks upon a reciprocating shoe 27. The shoe is loosely supported upon a bearing-rod 28, located near the end of the frame 3, and the opposite end is mounted upon the cranked shaft 29, arranged to impart to the shoe an endwise reciprocating movement simultaneous with a vertical reciprocation.

The cranked shaft 29 is journaled in bearings 30, secured to uprights of frame 3. The delivery-shoe 31 for the shredded fodder is inclosed in a casing 32, the top of which extends over the sln'edder-head, and at the rear of the shredder-head the casing is provided with a diaphragn'i 33, pendulously supported from the casing, with its lower edge extending near the delivery-shoe, which latter is serrated at the top and preferably formed of a sheet of metal connected to a frame 3 1. At the end of the shoe the shredded fodder is discharged upon a delivering mechanisn. (Not shown.) The frame 3 is provided with a step t I 33, wlnch is adapted to limit the backward swing of the diaphragm, and thereby during the upward and backward reciprocation of the shoe prevent the material being carried back with the shoe, whereby the shoe moves backward from under the [material and allows it to drop into the air-discharging mechanism. (Not shown.)

Motion is transmitted to the shrc(kler-head by means of a belt rove upon the driving 'iulley mounted upon the extension of journal 10,

and upon the same end of the mandrel against the side of the frame there is mounted a spurwheel 35, which intermeshes with a spurwheel 36, mounted upon the shaft extension L of the bottom feed-roller at, and the train of gears 7 is driven by the spur-wheel 36 to actuate the top roller 5. Upon the extension 4: of the lower feed-roller 4 there is mounted a sprocket-wheel 37, over which a chain belt 38 is rove to transmit motion to the sprocketwheel 39, mounted upon the driving-axle 40 of the feed-table. Upon one end of thejournal extension 10 there is mounted a sprocketwheel 4L1 to transmit motion by means of sprocket-chain 42 to a sprocket-wheel 43, mounted upon the cranked shaft 29. Thus constructed when the shredder-head is revolved clockwise by the driving-belt the lower feedroller is revolved in the opposite direction by the connecting mechanism described, thereby revolving the upper feed-roller opposite to the lower feed-roller, and the apron of the feedtable toward the feed-rollers and also reciprocating the shoe endwise and upward and downward. Stalks of corn being laid on the feedbelt are carried first through the feed-rollers, which also serve as snapping-rollers for severing the ears from the stalks, and as the stalks pass through the snapping-rollers they pass over the ledge-shaft 25, which supports the stalks at the cutting-point of the knives of the revolvingshredder-head. The knives cut the stalks into shreds or pieces, which drop onto the shoe 26 and are carried by the motion of the shoe toward the rear of the inclosing casing and dropped from the end of the shoe to the inlet of air-delivery mechanism. (Not shown on the drawings.) The swinging diaphragm 33 allows the backward movement of the material by the shoe and serves to prevent its return therewith in its forward reciprocation.

By setting the knife-blades in the form ofa helix around the shredder-head and extending a distance equal to the length of the feed-rollers it is insured that no stalks will pass the shredder-head without beingshredded, and by providingthe sln-edder-head with the sectional helical collar 16, made up of abutting halfturn sections, forming a helical groove around the head, the halfturn shredder-blades mounted in the groove are held therein by tightening the end collars on the helical collar with thejam-nuts. For the purpose of sharpening the blades or of removing broken blades and putting new ones in their places it is manifest that by loosening thejam-nuts of the head and running them back on the mandrel the helical collar 16 may be divided at any blade and the portion adjacent to the nuts moved along the mandrel until the blade which is to be removed is released from the pins upon which it is mounted, when it may be readily removed and returned or its place supplied with a new one. This construction provides a ready means of securing the shredderblades to the shredder-head and for removing them therefrom, which adds greatly to the convenience and efliciency of the shredderhead.

hat I claim to be new is 1. In a corn-husking and stalk-shredding mechanism, the combination with a frame, of upper and lower snapping feed-rollers journaled in the frame and geared together to revolve the top of the lower and the bottom of the upper roller in thesame direction, are volving feed-apron adapted to carry cornstalks to the feed-rollers in position to be drawn between the feed-rollers, a shredderhead journaled in the frame behind the feedrollers, comprising a mandrel provided with end journals, end collars and an intermediate sectional collar mounted on the main body portion of the mandrel and together forming ahelical groove around the mandrel, and a helical cutter formed of half-turn helical blades detachably mounted in the groove, a revoluble ledge between the feed-rollers and the shredder-head, gear mechanism connecting the feedrollers and feed-apron with the shredder-head and means to revolve the shredder-head clownward toward the ledge and thereby revolve the top of the lower feed-roller and the bottom of the upper feed-roller toward the shredderhead and the top of the apron toward the feedrollers, substantially as set forth.

2. In a shredder-head, the combination with a mandrel comprising the body portion 9, the end journals 10 and 10, the shoulder 12, and the threaded portion 13, of the end collars 14:, the intermediate lap-jointed, semihelical collar-sections 16, the semihelical knife-blades 21 and the compression-nuts 15, substantially as shown and described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 15th day of June, A. D. 1903.

CHARLES C. WELSH. \Vitnesses:

H. E. BRADNER, JOHN R. BRADNER. 

